Ego: Friend Or Foe?

[Bodhi123]

Ego:  The sense of being an individual self

Outlook 1: The ego is the source of all suffering. It is an illusion that should be dispelled of as soon as possible.

Outlook 2: To have an ego is the very purpose for our incarnation in this physical world. It is the means by which the Divine experiences itself.

Which outlook do you hold?

 

 

[Nahm]

Great question.

??‍♂️

 

I think both. The suffering in the illusion is half of the experience. The trick, while in the first, is to remember the second.

[outlandish]

Yeah nice question! 

My personal, current, opinion is a mixture of the two as well. 

By ego, I mean the first-person perspective, the subjective experience of being, not the colloquial sense of ego being the feeling that "I'm better than you are" etc. I think we're already all in agreement here on these terms, but just to be sure

I believe that "Outlook 1" is true: our purpose here in this configuration is to experience ego, the material plane, separateness, opposites, logic. To view ego as a problem is just making a new problem, creating a different kind of suffering. 

I believe "Outlook 2" is also true. We have a unique opportunity to transcend the ego in this life, it's a lofty goal that can actually be achieved.

I've always wanted to believe it was possible to transcend the ego and have raw undivided experience, but until recently I've held some doubts, thinking that maybe it's just an impossible goal that spiritual practices wave in front of you to keep you playing their game. I no longer doubt that it's possible. Now I wonder if it's possible to live day to day in this kind of state, in the middle of the madness of life.

[Prabhaker]

12 minutes ago, outlandish said:

Now I wonder if it's possible to live day to day in this kind of state, in the middle of the madness of life.

The fear arises only because we are not certain of our own silence -- our silence is very vulnerable. And in the beginning, it is natural -- it is nothing to be worried about. All that is needed is that the inner silence should be more crystallized. In fact, going into the outer world can be of immense help because it becomes a test. Use it as an opportunity to test your silence.

[Azrael]

3 hours ago, Bodhi123 said:

Which outlook do you hold?

The ego can only bring suffering if you misplace its position in your world. If you dream, and you know that you dream, there is nothing bad about the dream whatsoever. However, if you dream and you don't know that you dream, the dream might turn into a nightmare very quickly.

[Principium Nexus]

Ego is a tool, you decide how to use it.

[Bodhi123]

I agree that both outlooks hold some truth. But it is important to be balanced.

If all you do is seek enlightenment and in the process cut yourself off from the world, I think you missed the point of being alive.

If you are too heavily identified with the ego then you will suffer.

If you seek Truth and explore what the world has to offer… I think you just lived a good life.

[Shin]

14 hours ago, Bodhi123 said:

Ego:  The sense of being an individual self

Outlook 1: The ego is the source of all suffering. It is an illusion that should be dispelled of as soon as possible.

Outlook 2: To have an ego is the very purpose for our incarnation in this physical world. It is the means by which the Divine experiences itself.

Which outlook do you hold?

 

 

Outlook 1 seems neurotic, wanting something fast, is never a good sign.

Outlook 2 imply there is a purpose to life, which can't be proved, and most enlightened people just say there is no point to it, or that it is just there to be experienced.

The ego can't be a foe, existence is impersonal, it has no enemy, since it is only one being.

If you fight your ego, it is the ego that is mad about itself, which reinforce it.

 

[jse]

"Ego" is just thought.  I find it useful not to objectify this illusion, by refusing to give "it" a name.

[Nahm]

4 hours ago, Wormon Blatburm said:

The purpose of life is not to eliminate the ego... Without it there would be no experience of anything.

It has to be reinterpreted and healed to where it no longer causes suffering... because you have disidentified with it

It makes me happy to hear you point that out. Sometimes I get the impression that people are moving their own enlightenment away from them, unknowingly, by thinking when it happens they will just magically be euphoric. The magic is that you see the truth of reality and of the ego, not that it disappears. You are very wise in your point - without the ego, there could be no experience at all. When someone who is a living breathing person says they have no ego (vs have transcended ego) it is a revealing interaction. 

[Nahm]

13 minutes ago, see_on_see said:

This just doesn't make sense. Why would there be no experience of anything without the ego?

Experience is all there is, including the ego. If anything, it's the ego that gets in the way of pure experience.

Being totally disidentified with the ego amounts to disappearance of the ego, because its existence depends on the identification itself.

Identification IS the ego. So once you've seen through the illusion of it, ego ceases to exist.

Your ego wrote that. Nothing wrong with that. See?

[Dodo]

Ego is Character. Ego is feelings. Ego is the feeling of Who you are, the mental image. It's not a problem as long as it's you, as long as you follow your own vibration. 

[Nahm]

The non ego doesn't use fingers, because it is not physical,  Do you see yet?

[Shin]

3 hours ago, Wormon Blatburm said:

If someone held a gun to your head, would you say "light and love and peace because I'm not identified with my body! Yoohoo!" No, your body and psychological structure (your personality/ego/temporal self) would go into fight and flight mode to defend itself.

Why? Because you have an ego.

 

Do you realize that a jellyfish has no brain ?

You need a brain to have thoughts right ?

...

Profit !

[Bodhi123]

5 hours ago, see_on_see said:

there's no need for an ego to exist to have motivation

If not the ego, then what is it that motivates you?

Honest question.